Love is the Fulfilment of the Law
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8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
Last week we considered the debt of love.
“Owe no one anything except to love one another.”
So not only is love a debt, but it is a debt that we, apparently, can never repay. This debt weighed heavy on Paul’s own heart as we saw in the first chapter of Romans that he felt the debt he had to the Greeks and barbarians. And Paul’s primary way that he felt compelled to pay that debt was through the preaching of the Gospel.
We talked about how that we can owe a debt in two different ways
1 because we have borrowed from someone that must be paid back
2 because we given something for the purpose of passing on to someone else.
Our debt of love is based on the latter.
Christ has given us eternal life and eternal love and the way that he has told us to return our love to Him is that we love one another.
Christ said that when we feed those that are hungry or give drink to those who thirst, when we take a stranger in and clothe the naked or when we visit the sick and those who are in prison
40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
Brothers and sisters if we can say that we have received forgiveness of our sins and justification. If Christ has deliverer us from the bondage of sin and given us hope of redemption and salvation from the wrath to come then we are forever in debt to others to preach the gospel without shame, to help others who have need, to love our neighbour
In our passage in Romans Paul tells us.
He Who Love Another has Fulfilled the Law
He Who Love Another has Fulfilled the Law
So not only is love a debt that we owe, but it is also the way in which we fulfil the Law.
Now someone may say “but hang on I thought Paul said in Ch 7 that we are dead to the Law.
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
But here Paul says that we have become dead to the Law not that the Law has become dead to us.
In fact in vs 6 he says
6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
and in vs 12 he says
12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
The Law was never the problem, it was that fact that my inability to keep the Law condemned me to death that was the problem. But we saw in ch 8
1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh,
4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
So to be dead to the Law means that there is now no condemnation under the Law because the righteous requirement has been fulfilled. This does not mean the the Law is dead to us but that we are now free from condemnation in or that we might keep the spirit of the Law of God with fear of death.
What Paul now tells us in Rom 13 is that the spirit of the Law is love.
What exactly does Paul mean by love?
What is Love
What is Love
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up;
5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil;
6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This is love that fulfils the Law.
It does not give in to Jealousy, showing off, or arrogance.
Love resist the temptation to act rudely or selfishly
Love is not provoked. It is not easily offended.
Love thinks no evil or literally does not keep account of the failure of others. Is not resentful does not hold grudges.
Love is not glad to hear of injustice or wickedness of unrighteousness. Or as it says in rom 12:9 Love abhors what is evil and clings to what is good.
Love rejoices in truth.
Love bears all things. That is love bears patiently the trials and difficulties that come our way. But this word bears also has the meaning of keeping other’s secretes that is to hide or conceal the faults of others.
Love believes all things, hopes all things endures all things.
That is Love believes the truth in which it rejoices puts it’s hope in that which it has faith in and endures all trials tribulation and difficulties based on faith and hope.
Anytime we read this passage we find very quickly that we fall short of this love. In fact if we replace the word love with our own name I don’t think that any could say this without blushing. But if we replace the word love with Jesus then it fits perfectly. Jesus is the true manifestation of love.
So when Paul says the one who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law, this is the love that he is speaking of, the love of Jesus.
9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
If we love as Jesus loved then we would never do these things. But to love like this we must put on the Lord Jesus Christ as we will see once we get into the next paragraph.
Who is My Neighbour
Who is My Neighbour
Is this people in my church or people in my community or both?
Jesus answered this perfectly for us
25 And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”
27 So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”
29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.
31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion.
34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’
36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?”
37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
Jesus told this story of a Samaritan because the Jews hated Samaritans more than anyone else and in turn the Samaritans hated the Jews. So they could be thought of as enemies. Yet this Samaritan treated this Jew with kindness and love. He was his neighbour. Those who we show love to are our neighbours and we should so love to everyone, even our enemies. Do this and you will fulfil to spirit of the law.
Lets pray.